Thursday, January 26, 2017

Good evening y'all. I hope and pray that wherever y'all are, you are safe, sound and settled in for a wonderful evening with family, friends or loved ones. It's kinda chilly here in my neck of the woods. It's supposed to get even cooler with the possibility of some snow over the weekend, maybe. We'll have to see, but I do hope pray that the weather predictions are wrong. I'm ready for Spring. hahaha But, I guess I'll have to settle for what it is. It's still Winter and I'm sure there's some weather hidden somewhere in that fact. For those of you that are dealing with bad weather, my prayers go out to you for safety and warmth. For those that have been dealing with the sickness going around, I pray that it's short lived for you. Mine has taken it's toll on me but, I am feeling better than I have, so I am thankful for that. TheraFlu really helped me a lot!!! I wish I would have had it at the onset, I believe it would have helped me a lot sooner. Just take care of yourselves and get plenty of rest.

What is "holy ground"? The words "holy
ground" sparked an honest question for me. In my
quest, I found some answers that are most awesome indeed. The Bible
refers to "holy ground" only twice, but you know twice is enough for you
get the understanding. Once in the Old Testament, Exodus 3:5, and
once in the New Testament, Acts 7:33. Yahweh Himself told Moses that
the ground he was standing on was holy. Why? What made the ground
holy? It wasn't that the actual piece of soil or rock or whatever
that Moses was standing on was holy, it was the fact that Moses was in
the presence of holy Yahweh! The very essence of God and all of His attributes are what makes Him holy. For us, to be holy means to be chosen and
set apart for a specific reason. When we accept Christ as Messiah
and Lord of our lives, we are then set apart for a holy life. It doesn't mean we are perfect, but it does mean that we have chosen a new lifestyle and our lives should reflect that choice. We have chosen holy, as opposed to easy. We have chosen the best instead of just settling for what ever is the norm. Sometimes, even as we strive for righteousness and holiness, we miss the mark.

The Old Testament account, Exodus 3:5 "Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." This is the story of God on the mountain, in the form of a burning bush. Have you ever seen a burning bush as described in this account? Probably not. But that doesn't make this situation any less real. If you are waiting for your "burning bush" experience, before you believe Yahweh is the holy "I Am", you may have a long wait. I hope that digging into this account for ourselves will be enough for us to recognize that He is holy and deserves to be treated as such.

Removal of sandals was an ancient custom, and still is in some parts of the world to show respect and submission and humility to someone, upon entering the temple, the palace or the private house of a great person. Some have described this act of reverence as being similar to men removing their hats in places of respect, again showing respect, submission and humility. With such a request from God, He was showing Moses his unworthiness. We sometimes refer to our Christian lives as our Christian "walk". Its much more easy to walk in a comfortable pair of shoes or sandals than it is to walk barefooted. Shoes and sandals also served as a means of keeping dust and dirt off our feet. The "dust and dirt" or "sin" of our everyday lives, if not kept in check, can cause us to be unpure and unholy in our lives and in the way we interact with others. As our Christian "walk", it also refers to our "ways" and the way we "talk". Does your "ways" and the way you "talk" reflect who you belong too? Okay, now this is hitting close to home, huh. Also, for the custom that we are talking about, slaves didn't wear shoes to show submission to authority, only the masters and overseers would wear shoes or sandals. Fire in Scripture, represents holiness and justice as well as afflictions and trials.

We sometimes speak of "going thru the fire" as a time of being purged and purified and made into something useful to God. Until that time of trial, we are useless to Yahweh. Because there is too much of self standing in the way. When we have come to the place of reverence for God, then we can realize we are standing on "holy ground", then and only then, will we become a useful tool for God. It is then that He has our attention. Sometimes we have a tendency to be disrespectful to Yahweh. I can't say that it is something we purposefully do. But, I hope and pray that when we come before Yahweh, that we will purposefully, from now on, be mindful and respectful of Who we are in the presence of.

In verse 7, Yahweh says that "I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering."

I don't know about you, but I hear the mercy, compassion and tenderness in this statement from Yahweh. Yes, He heard their cries and seen their misery and was very concerned. This particular time in history had been predicted by God back in Gen. 15:13 and it was nearing the end of this time that God had alotted and He was now ready for Moses to be the deliverer. Go back and read this account for yourself and get it fresh in your mind with what is happening here. God got Moses ready to be His voice, to be His man on the ground, if you will, to be in charge of this great deliverance. Moses' whole life had been leading up to this very point in history. He was born of a poor mother, was supposed to die because of the order to kill every Hebrew male child, but by faith his mother set him adrift in a little basket sealed with pitch or tar and was found by the royal Egyptian family of Pharaoh and raised as an heir to the throne. Later he found out who he really was, a slave by birth; then he killed an Egyptian for mistreating a slave and was exiled out into the desert, to be forgotten about forever. But, when God is orchestrating the situation, you just never can tell what's around the corner. Moses had lived those 40 years in the desert wisely, although it was just everyday life for him, God had been getting him ready for the coming 40 years as a great leader and the deliverer of God's people. God assured Moses that He was very aware of the misery of His people and it was time to do something about it.

What does this have to do with us? Nothing, if we don't want it to. Everything, if we do want it to. What I see is this. The years of slavery in a foreign land is just like us living years of our lives in sin. We are slaves to sin. Our task master is the hold that sin has over our lives. The desires and addictions of sin and to sin has become like Pharaoh over our lives. Sin is the stronghold that will not let go easily. We have wasted many precious years in the struggle waiting, looking for a way out. We get tired and worn out, but we keep struggling and sin keeps taking bigger bites from our lives. We are ready for something to change. We cry out, we cry out and we cry out! Finally, we cry out to God,and He hears us!!!!

God sets us on path of correction for our lives. Sometimes, right in the midst of correction, we stop and we grumble and we complain, saying and thinking that Egypt (sin) was better, because at least it was familiar. Is familiar better? Is the unknown holy even attainable or will we be totally consumed by the familiar sin? You and I are the only ones that can answer that question. There is no time like the present to answer that question. It makes no difference what the sin is, God is the answer to the sin. When we give ourselves over to the "I Am" of all creation, He will help us!!! When we ask God into our mess, right where we are, then and there, right where we are becomes "holy ground", because God showed up!!! Nothing about our mess is holy. But, when we ask God to step into our mess, He will and wherever He is, is holy ground! The children of Israel was in a mess and God heard their cries, and their mess became the message for the world.

There is a lot of messes around each and every one us. Maybe we are smack dab in the midst of some of those messes. Maybe we are a slave to sin. Maybe we have a hard task master and don't know what to do. Maybe we are just about to go down in the pit of sin for the last time. Maybe we feel there is no way out. What if there is a way out. What if all of the sudden your living hell just became holy ground. If you call on Father God, then whatever you are going thru can become "holy ground" because of His presence, right there with you, wherever you are in your life. Wherever God is, that's holy ground!!!! This is my interpretation of "holy ground" from a life time of messes and the intervention of holy God in all my messes. Share this with someone you know that is up to their neck in a mess, they will appreciate it.

I showed you a pin in the last blog post I made. Well, I love making them, so I have a total of 4 now. hehehe Did I say I love making them? I do, I do!!! They are so fun!!! Just wanted to show them to you tonight. Hope you enjoy them.

This is all four of them with a sharpie marker laid in front of them for perspective.

This is the very first one I made and it's on a tiny purple easel. The easel showcases the pin nicely.

This is the last one that I just finished with. I left off the copper stained glass trim, just to see how I would like it, and I like a LOT. I do love the colors of this one. It has a very small wooden bird as well as mini beads, plus some different colors of seed beads. Also my fav new thing, the shell chips. I just love them!!! And then there was a great big splash of extra fine blue glitter! I used purple and bronze metallic acrylic paints. YUM!!

This was the third one I made. I wish they would have uploaded in the way I chose for them to upload, oh well. This one has a couple of pearls, some of the shell chips, mini micro beads, tiny flat back gems and also some star shaped glitter. I used purple, pink and gold metallic acrylic paints. It looks really nice.

This is the second one I made. I used purple, red and green acrylic paint, large flat back gems and a binder circle as well as some of the mini micro beads and some tiny flat backed gems. Oh, did I say I love making these? hehehe

I have a tip about the finish on these that I will share next time. Be on the look out, it's a good one.

Another "tip", actually part 2 from the last tip I shared. What I wanted to share with y'all is another app that is good for just keeping a grocery list on your cell phone is the Aldi app. I was using it before I was told about Flipp. What I do with this one is make my list, whatever I need when I go shopping. If I am going to Dollar Store, WalMart, Aldi's, Dollar Tree............I will just put an abbreviation by the item of what I am getting, and where I am getting it at. Biscuits-A, chicken stock sf-WM (sf=sodium free) whole wheat brd-A, lunch meat-A, fresh fruit-A...and so on. You can even put the prices in the line item and keep up with prices. Then you can go back and check old prices against what you are just now picking up. As I get the item, I tap it and it puts a line thru it. I go on to next store and do the same. If I am making all the stops in one day, my list will be marked thru every item and it was a success. It really helps a lot. I will do the comparison shopping with the ads in Flipp and then put my shopping list in Aldi's app. At first, it may take a bit of time, but once you get your list made, then it's just a matter of maintaining the list and keeping your coupons up to date. (The Flipp app will even tell if there's a coupon applicable!) How cool is that!!! Again, I have nothing to gain with Aldi, I just love sharing great tips. There are several good apps out there that will help you save money on your grocery shopping. If you use something different to what I mentioned, let me know, and I will check them out and get back to you with my experience.Well, this will just about wrap up another visit with y'all. I hope you enjoyed your time here and that you seen or read something that you can share with someone. Tell someone you know that God will meet them right where they are if they will call on Him. Their mess can become their message and their territory of sin can become "holy ground", because wherever God is, is holy ground. I pray for God's blessing on all y'all and that you have a peaceful night of rest and that tomorrow is one of the best days of your life to this point. Always remember that God loves you and I do too. Dream big, with God's help! Meet me right back here real soon y'all. Hugs and love, Patty

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Good morning Y'all!!! I hope and pray that where ever y'all are today that you feel good and that you have thanked God for letting you be a part of this marvelous day. The sun may not be shining out side, but The Son should always be shining inside where ever you are. Woop Woop!!! I am like so many others now, you know the bug going around, well, it decided to hop on me and I am under the weather. My throat is swollen, I have had 2 cups of my fav Community brand decaf this morning just to soothe it and I may have another one in a bit. I pray it is short lived!!! So for anyone else out there that is dealing with it, my heart felt "get well" wishes go out to you, speedy healing, my friends!!

I was out and about yesterday with a very dear friend. While out, I got my hair trimmed and shaped a bit. First time in over a year that scissors have been on my hair. I always thought short hair was easier to care for,,,,,NOT!!! I am enjoying the longer hair, plus I get to rat it up real tall, hehehe. I can pull it back, I can use electric rollers and go fluffy, I can use my curling irons and my flat irons, woohoo.....I can have fun with now. yay!!! Remember the banana clips from the 80's and 90's, Dollar Tree has them and I got some. So I can even use those now. Hilarious!!!!!

In my last blog post I shared a pin I had started on Thursday with my Family Community Education club ladies. I had taken pics of all of them and showed y'all. Well, I got mine finished and I hope you like it.

This was after I had just gotten the brass stained glass trim on in. You know how sometimes the canvas boards will have ears at the corners of them, the brass trim cover that and makes it look like it's framed.

This is a close up of one side. There is teenie tiny little microscopic beads that you can see barely see, it is just a smidgen of a faber castell bead gel product that I brushed on. Also one of my fav new things are the shell chips that I try to use on just about everything I make now.

You can see the little purple flat back gems that I set on it. Gotta have as much purple as possible and of course, I love pearls too. hehehe

I got the pin back on it and autographed the back and I thought, gee, this needs a little easel, so I set out to make a little easel to set it on when I'm not wearing it. How cool is that! Then I put a penny down so you could see perspective of the overall size. Sure hope you enjoyed seeing the finished pin. Ta-Da! hehehe

This is my "tip" thatI wanted to share with y'all today. I have an app on my cell phone that I use to help me comparison shop. It's called "Flipp". It's worth it's weight in gold, especially since it's free. Free---YAY!!!!! It has a shopping list in it and I keep a running list in it. Flipp has a list of MANY of the weekly ads, like those that come in the Sunday paper only they are in this app. You go thru the alphabetical list of all the apps and then the ones that are in your area of shopping, create a list of favorites by tapping a heart at the top of the screen. The ones you mark are on your "favorites" list. Then you can create your grocery list and see what's on sale and which place has the lowest price. I refer to my favorites list every time I go grocery shopping. Well, when I was out the other day, I was going to run by Big Lots and pick up some bottled water. I looked in my Flipp app, and Big Lots was no longer in my apps list and it was not even listed in the alphabetical list of stores. I was kinda upset over that. I love options and I love knowing what all my options are and if Big Lots has taken themselves off the app, then my option is to say bye bye Big Lots. On the plus side with Flipp, I have all my local stores and pharmacies in my list and I love it!!! So, if you have a smart phone, check out Flipp from your play store app. There may be others, but I can only recommend Flipp, because that's what I use. I'm not a spokesperson for Flipp at all, maybe I should be though. hehehe (By the time I got this blog post posted, Big Lots was back in the Flipp app, YAY, I'm so happy! So, I will continue to shop there from time to time.)

If you put this app on your phone or already use it, let me know about your experience with it. If you know of others, let me know, ok. Thanks.

When The Wind Blows

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly
advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms
along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the
Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings
and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he
received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well
past middle age, approached the farmer.

"Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired
him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to
dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of
bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired
hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A
storm is coming! Tie things down before they
blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir.
I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the old man's response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on
the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his
amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with
tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn,
the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The
shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could
blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he
returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in
the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the
storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by accepting Jesus
Christ as our Savior and by grounding ourselves
firmly in the Word of God. (copied, author unknown) A very good friend of mine sends me a devotional every morning, and this one spoke to me so loudly and clearly that I wanted to share with y'all.

I hope and pray that as the storms of life come and bring the winds right along with it, that you can sleep thru the night knowing that Jesus is in control. I hope that you find comfort in the Word of God. It is the instruction manual for life. This is the only "self help" manual you will ever need, if you will read and study prayerfully, asking God to open your heart and head to receive His instruction.

God bless you in the rest of this day!!! Dream God sized dreams!!! God loves you and so do I. hugs, Patty

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Well, I sure hope and pray that y'all have had a great start to the New Year so far!!! In my neck of the woods, we have had snow and ice and sunshine and rain and sunshine and ice and rain.............that was just all within the last 15 minutes!!! hahahaha I'm so over winter already y'all. It wouldn't be so bad if I could walk on the stuff...hehehehe, but I do more sliding than walking and I am very concerned about my Achilles tendon issue. It got flared up here back and it really bothers me when I get out on the slick or wet deck and try to walk across it. I guess I get a little tense and when I do, it goes all the way down to my heel and makes it start hurting again and I have to double up on the meds to get rid of the inflammation. Seems like a vicious cycle, but hey, I can walk, so I'm not complaining at all. I got out of bed today, so that makes any day a wonderful day, even if it is raining, snowing or whatever!!! Don't y'all agree? Sure you do. Woop Woop!!! Just a little shouting in house right about now. Yay!!!

There has been much sickness around here and I'm sure you've seen it in your areas also. I just want all that stuff to go away!!! It really takes it toll on all of us, but I worry most for the elderly. We just need to try to be more aware of how we are feeling and if we are running a temp and coughing and blowing our noses, stay in and away from anyone more susceptible to lung issues. I know, I know most every one of us wants to be seen and as often as possible, no matter the cost. ggg Well, ain't that so? I just have to remind myself from time to time that other people's health and safety is much more important than my need to be seen. I sure wish others would do the same.

One thing that I am gonna try to do this year is to add a tip or two to each blog post. I hope you will let me know if it is helpful to you or someone else you may share them with. I don't know a lot, but I love sharing what little I do know, so this is the first tip about the wet wipes to help you stay healthy. I get them at the Dollar Tree in an oval upright plastic container with a red flip top pop off lid. There is between 60-75 wipes in the containers. I keep them in the door pocket of the car all year long. Since they are wet wipes, they will freeze during cold weather. So, to keep them from freezing, I will put about 1/4 cup of alcohol that I have also gotten at the Dollar Tree in the wet wipes container. One bottle of alcohol will more than last a whole winter season and two vehicles. It will keep the wipes from freezing and it also gives a little more sanitizing power in the winter, which we need. And since alcohol is drying to your skin, as soon as you get home and wash your hands, use a good moisturizer on your hands.

So, today I had my FCE, Family Community Education club meeting. We always go over old business and new business and stuff like and have a show and tell time and if someone gets together the stuff, we have a small craft project. We haven't been having many craft projects as of late. So this morning I got the stuff together and we had a mini art session!!! Yes we did!!!! We all enjoyed it a lot and I hope I can do more in the months to come.

I had been seeing some art of a friend on the Google+ communities and oohhhing and aaahhhhing over her work and she said it would be quite ok for me to use her idea and share it with others. So, that is what I done today. I dedicate this craft project to my friend +Sue Marrazzo and I thank her for the encouragement to use her idea. Be sure and check out some of her art by clicking on her name, she is awesome!!! I didn't have a sample to show them, I just got everything out and we just done it at the same time and all the ladies really enjoyed it. I was so thankful that they had a good time making this little pin.

It is a 2x2 mini art canvas in black. I gathered up a bunch of acrylic paints, metallics and non metallics, tooth picks, beads, buttons, pin backs, and a sticky back copper stained glass edging. They weren't dry, so they don't have the pin backs on them and copper edging. We will put that on when they are completely dry and cured for a day or two. But I did take pictures of all our multi media mini art canvas pins. I was gonna bring some glitter, but I forgot it. But.....I'm just sure some glitter will fall on mine before it's completely done. hehehehe Hope you enjoy the pics.

This one is mine. I put a couple of pearls on mine. I use white metallic, blue metallic, purple and a spot of bronze metallic and just swirled it around with a toothpick.

It looks like most of used about the same colors.

This one a bit more white and blue.

I really enjoyed the looks of this one with the pink. It really stands out.

This one had pink in it too, and I really love the way they turned out.

This was mine again with the small pin back just so you can see perspective of size. Without that, they look like they could be 14x14 inch canvases. hahaha (that would be a goofy big pin, wouldn't it. hehehe)

So, there you have it. I hope enjoy seeing this. I will put up another pic when I have mine finished completely with the copper edging on it. Thank you Sue, for the inspiration. I hope we done your project justice. We sure enjoyed it!!!!!

Have you ever been lied to? Do you know a lie when you hear one? How does it make you feel to hear a lie? You know what I mean. Just a quickening in you gut, or a tug at your heart, or just an all out warning system going off in your head. It's really hard to hear lies being told about friends, family or significant people in our lives. It hurts. And if you love the person being lied about, you want to say something, don't you. Or maybe you just don't say anything because you don't want to make scene. Either way, you recognize it as a lie and your heart aches for the other person.

So, lets get to the heart of the matter. What about when the lie is about you? "Them's fightin' words"! ggg Think about it. Who tells "you" the most lies about you? The enemy! The devil! The evil one! His number one job is to kill, steal, and destroy!!! We read the Bible and we are warned about his evil ways and tactics and we know he wants to keep us bound up in lies; in his lies. If he can tell you a lie about you and you believe it, guess what, his job is done and he has you tied up in the corner right where he wants you.

It is so easy for us to encourage others. The sad part of it is this, most of us feel like we don't deserve that same encouragement. It is just easier for us to believe the lies of the enemy than it is to believe the same encouraging words that we share with others; that when we accepted Christ Yeshua, as our Lord and Savior all the old things in our life before Christ was totally erased. That is what happens when we accept Yeshua, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!!! All that stuff that had held us back, like stinkin' garbage, is gone forever. Why is it so hard for us to believe what the Bible says about us? Why is so hard to believe that we are a new creation in Christ? Let's face it, Christ has our heart, but the enemy still resides in our mind. That's it, just straight up, the enemy still has our mind in bondage. We know in our hearts that what I'm saying is true. We don't want it to be true, we really don't. So how do we move forward without the enemy in our mind? I won't even pretend to have all the answers, but I can point you in the direction for all the answers, The Word of God!!!! All that matters is the truth of the Word of God!!!! Here is a short list of who you are in Christ:

John 1:12 --children of God

Ephesians 1:5 --adopted into the family through Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 6:17 --one with Christ in Spirit

Romans 6:6 --no longer slaves to sin

Genesis 1:27 --created in the image of God

Jeremiah 1:5 --known by God before you was born (life begins at conception)

Hebrews 4:16 --we can come boldly to the throne of God to seek mercy and grace from Him

1 Peter 2:11 --an enemy of the devil

1 John 2:27 --anointed by God

1 John 4:10 --loved

Revelation 5:9 --have been redeemed

Isaiah 53:5 --healed

John 15:3 --cleansed

Philippians 4:13 --capable

I could go on and on and on with more scripture to show us who we are in Yeshua, Christ, but I think this is more than enough to get us started on retraining our thought process about ourselves and stop us from listening to the enemy. I pray that we will use these verses and others as a reminder of "who we are" and "whose we are". I have to remind myself from time to time and fill my mind with the good stuff.

Philippians 4:8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

One thing I know for sure is this; dwelling on the stinkin' thinkin', the lies that the enemy tells us day in and day out are NOT what is excellent or praiseworthy. The list above is. Think on those things and praise Yahweh, that all things are made new in Christ, Yeshua!!!!!! Share this with someone you know who would benefit from a little pick-me-up. They will appreciate it so much.

So, let me ask you a question. Who are you? It's not based on economic status, your checking account, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the color of your hair, the color of your skin, your weight, the size of the house you live in, where you were born. None of those things matter. They really don't. What does matter is the foot of the cross. It's level for everyone. Everyone has to make their way to the foot of the cross at some time or another, to be in right relationship with our Father God. If you have acknowledged that you need help in your life and Christ is that help; if you have accepted Christ into your heart; if you have confessed your sin with your mouth and believed in your heart that Christ died for your sins and is now at the right hand of the Father, then you can claim all these verses over your life and all the many more in scripture that tell who you are. Woohoo!!! That's some good news!!!! Child of God, who are you?

I have another little "tip" to share with you that can save you a little money. Who doesn't want to do that? It won't make you rich, but a few extra pennies in your pocket is better than them being in someone elses pocket, "ain't" it? A friend of mine up in Ky (she will know who she is when she reads this ggg) gave me a pump bottle of hand soap for my birthday last year. Most of the pump bottles just pump out liquid soap into your hand. This one pumped out foam! I loved it! So much so that I used it up way too quickly. hehehe What can I say, I loved the foam. Well, I wasn't about to toss the empty bottle. The pump mechanism is much larger than the one in a regular hand soap bottle (if you are interested in looking for one). So that got me to thinking it was the mechanism that made the foam. The soap solution was much thinner, watery. My experiment led me to this finding. Take off the pump mechanism from the bottle and put about 2 tablespoons, no more than that for sure, of regular liquid soap in the bottle and fill it the rest of the way up with hot water, leaving enough space to accommodate the larger pump mechanism. Don't shake the bottle, just swirl it around until the soap is evenly distributed and then put the pump mechanism back in and ENJOY your new foam hand wash!!!! A regular bottle of hand wash will last for forever, almost!!! Yay!! Woop Woop!!!

I sure hope y'all read something here today that spoke to you. Maybe a tip, or maybe the Word of God, or maybe just my ramblings; if it did, tell someone you know about it, they may need to hear it too. I love it when you leave me a little note, it makes me happy. I hope we enjoy the day that has been put before us. Cold, rain, snow, sleet, ice, floods......no amount of bad weather can keep us from the presence of Yahweh!!!! Nothing can!!! Isn't that GOOD NEWS!!!! Don't forget to "dream" God sized dreams!!!!

Till we meet again, right back here, blessings, God loves y'all and so do I!!!!!! hugs, Patty

Monday, January 2, 2017

Good morning Y'all!!! I hope everyone had a Merry "Christ"-filled Christmas and a Happy New Year!! We have been experiencing a wet season here in my neck of the woods. Not a real happy camper, but I'll manage. hahaha Looking out side this morning, we're in for another gloomy day. But, ever the optimist, the "Son" is shining on the inside!!!! Woohoo!!! That's always good to cheer about! Was fixing coffee this morning, and my little coffee maker went "ka-put"! No coffee for me. Well, that's not quite right, I did use hubby's pot and made my decaf after he got his high octane, but, I will be out in a bit looking for another little coffee maker for me. I had one of those little Black and Decker one cup thingies and that's what I want to get again or something similar. We'll see.

We have been without our internet service for a few days and just got it back on. That's why you didn't hear from me on New Year's Eve. I am a lot disappointed in AT&T these days. We don't have many options here in my neck of the woods for internet service, just AT&T or ComCast and neither one are "consumer friendly", but I'll tell you what, right now I'm not a "friendly consumer". "Reach out and touch someone", yeah, that would make me pretty happy!!! hahaha We can live without the internet, but our home phone is over the internet, so if a dr or the hospital or some kind of an emergency had come up, we wouldn't have known. Oh well, it's over now. I did laugh and tell hubby that I had missed all the spam/scam calls we were getting. There is a certain amount of power in hitting the "call block" button. In the last year and a half leading up to the election, I reckon every "scam bag" (hahaha) that could, got their hands on our number and called and called and called. I would google the number and it would be scammers. Our old house phone was old enough that it didn't have call block. When I get stuff like that on my cell phone, I put the # in my Kaspersky and it stops all that. Well, with the old house phone, we just got to where we wouldn't answer unless or until they started leaving a message and if it was someone we knew we picked up and if not, we hit the delete button. Sooooooo, here back, we went to Wal Mart and picked up a new phone. The base has a big "call block" button, and I must say, I'm in love!!!! And each handset has a "call block" button on them!!! hahaha Oh yeah, there is a LOT of power in that little button. Now,,,,,,,,,,,,,I feel a little bit Clint Eastwood-ish, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout. "Go ahead, make my day!!!!!" So, when someone has already been blocked, it just rings once and they are gone "bye-bye", and if it's a # I don't recognize, I will google it and then they are gone "bye-bye"! I just have to tell you, I do love power, I really do! Our new phone has given me so much power, I just can't get over it!!! I find myself during a time I may be a bit bored, saying "come on call, my "block" finger is needing some more exercise! hahaha That is true y'all. (thinking out loud to self: I really believe all that power has gone to my head just a bit.) hahaha No, just kidding about that. But it feels really good to have some control over who calls our phone now. So, the moral of the story is this, you don't have to take all the spam/scam calls, you can take matters in your own hands, and we did. There is one small draw back. Remember the days of the really old rotary phones, you could really slam that sucker down in someones ear, with call block, you can't slam the phone down. hahaha But.........I have heard of people wearing those little whistles around their neck and when they get a spam/scam call, they blow a whistle in the phone. Oooooh mmmmmy ggggggosh, I think I may feel more power coming my way!!!! hahahahaha

So, we was out and about over the Christmas holiday and driving thru town, we seen a sight that has always intrigued me! We see it all the time, but it's a lot more fun to see with each other in the vehicle, because we always laugh and start talking about when we first started seeing this particular sight. I believe everyone is probably familiar with seagulls, right. They are a "normal" sight around or near the ocean, right, right, yeah right. So, about 25 years ago we was in the Rivergate area. In the mall area, to be exact and we seen a sight that wasn't normal for us. We are country folk. Just sayin', straight up country folk y'all. And I'm VERY proud to say that!!!!! Being a country gal, most things don't raise a brow for me. But, when I see "sea gulls" in an area that is very "main land", no ocean for many many many miles, it's different, to say the least. So, hubby and I started calling them the Rivergate Seagulls. A few years later, we was driving thru our town and we seen these big birds flying around in the K-Mart parking lot! Guess what, they were seagulls, and they are creeping further and further north, farther and farther away from the ocean. Now, remember I have just proclaimed myself, straight up, a country gal, so forgive me, but I just crack up when I see this sight, still, even after all the years. We started talking about the seagulls, hubby and I. We decided that these are descendants of the ancient Rivergate seagulls. Probably 20 generations or more removed. They have evolved their diet over the years from healthy fish and aquatic ocean life, to thriving on "whoppers and french fries"! Seriously!!!! I just keep waiting to see if we hear of any of them having open heart surgery or some kind of a "gizzard" attack or something like that. Seriously!!! We need to change our eating habits so the gulls stay as healthy as possible. Someone will call PETA on us!!!! I tried to get one in the bed of the truck, but it kept flying out!!!! Well, if you don't believe me, pictures are worth a hundred words! hahahahahaha

Here, some of them are still air bound and coming in for landing.

They are not afraid of us anymore. They come right up to the vehicle looking for a whopper!

This is just a few of them, there are lots of them, but they are discriminating though, it's only the "really bad for you" fast food places that they hang out. Subway has nothing to worry about.

They do keep the parking lot nice and clean though. I don't think the city ever has to use the street sweeper on that parking lot. hehehe

I really tried to get one to come home with me, but it just kept flying out of the bed of the truck. hahaha Next time I will toss a whopper back there!!!!

They will follow you all over the parking lot, wanting scraps, oh heck, they want the whole burger and fries and a lot of people do just that. hahaha Oh well, I do find it amusing, why, I just don't know. Ever once in a while we will see some out at the lake in the city park, so that gives me a little hope that they haven't lost their sense all together, but I don't guess they will ever find their way back to the ocean, they have the good life here, so why leave it.

With the New Year comes resolutions, right? Well, I don't make New Year resolutions, haven't in a very long time!!!! Just a little research on the subject and I found that it was an ancient Babylonian tradition, so I decided to let that tradition die with the ancient Babylonians a long time ago. I figured if it was something they done, I didn't need to do it!!!

So, I see the New Year as "opportunity". I see the New Year as a time for "dreams" to be fulfilled. Most every one has had a dream of some kind. And most of us have had a few of those dreams "shot down like a seagull over the parking lot"! ggg Well, it's true. People love to toss water over someone else's dreams and dash their hopes. So, instead of telling other people what my dreams are, I have decided to share my dreams with Yahweh, Father God!!! I have asked Him to help me dream big for myself. I have asked Him to enlarge my circle of influence for Him. I have asked for more personal dreams to be fulfilled, but that is between He and I. I think sometimes we loose the ability to dream dreams. So, if you fall into that category, not knowing how to dream for yourself, then I invite and encourage you to share that with God. Ask Him for God-sized dreams!!!! We limit ourselves by asking for this or that, just ask Him for whatever He sees for you. So, this year, my word for the year is "DREAM", and it's not my dream, but what God has dreamed for me!!! I have asked Him for only what He has envisioned for me, all my life. This year just might as well be the year that I start walking His dream for me out, what ever it looks like. I encourage you to do the same. We are NEVER too old to reach for the dreams that God has for us. I don't have any idea of what this year holds for me, but I know the One that holds my year in His hands. He will not put any thing before me that He has not equipped me to do. It may require me to stretch my faith muscles, but I'm willing to do that. I hope and pray that y'all will join me for the journey that lies ahead in 2017! It will be a fun bumpy ragged ride, for sure. I'm game, if y'all are game. Let's make plans today, to ride in to the end of 2017 knowing that it has been a year well spent with God dreaming dreams for us!!!!! DREAM!!!!!!!! Ask God for His dream for you!!!!!

Well, there you have it. Not what I was planning on when the last few days of the old year came and went without internet service, but this is what I finished with this morning. I hope you found a bit of humor and truth and lightheartedness in the mess I will call a blog post. hahaha Hopefully, I can put my creative hat back on and get to making fun messes to share with y'all in this new year.

Remember, in everything you do, God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you thru His Son, Yeshua, Jesus Christ. I love y'all too. Till we meet back here again "DREAM"-ing , hugs, Patty

About Me

I am a Christian, first and foremost. Not perfect, by the worlds standards, by any means, just washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ!! I have been married to my wonderful husband for 38 years. I thank God for him every day of my life. I look forward to the next 38 years with my hubby! God has blessed me with some wonderful Christian ladies in my life to help me stay grounded and focused. I love them and I always enjoy spending precious time with them.

I have been crafting ever since I can remember. I learned to count with buttons from my Mom's button jar. So, I come from a long line of crafters. Back in the day, it was "making do with what you have", now we call it "crafting". ggg What ever you call it, it's fun.

I dedicate this blog to everyone, past and present, who has inspired me along the way to see the world around me a little more colorful and a lot more crafty. Create, learn, teach, inspire, share, grow, and love! May God always be our main source of inspiration and our main reason for crafting. Give God praise and glory every day for the talents you have. Always remember, God loves y'all and so do I. hugs, patty